84 The Alps in Jime. 



of their bird-life I need hardly say they slide 

 insensibly into each other. But I think it will 

 be found that the division is a fair one for our 

 purposes, and is a useful one to bear in mind 

 in all dealings with the natural history of the 

 country. 



I will now ask my readers to follow me mentally 

 in an expedition which will bring us into actual 

 contact with many of the birds I have noticed 

 in Switzerland. We will choose a route which 

 from its great beauty, comparative quiet, and 

 good inns, has always been a favourite of mine, 

 and will carry us over parts of all the three 

 regions I have just described, enabling us to 

 compare their avi-fauna with that of our own 

 country. Starting from the village of Stanz-stadt, 

 famous in Swiss history, which stands on that arm 

 of the lake of Lucerne which lies immediately 

 beneath Mount Pilatus, we will pass up the 

 luxuriant valley of the Aa, in canton Unter- 

 walden, to Engelberg, where most of the land 

 and forest is owned by the monks of a great 

 monastery, whose care for their possessions has 

 doubtless helped to make them a pleasant home 



